Fish finder for canoe?

[VAspeedgoat]

There is a lake near my house that I have been wanting to fish for a while and am a little intimidated by having no experience on it. In fact most people only fish for catfish or bluegill for fun. I am after the brook trout that are stocked as fingerlings every fall. I have done well fishing there when the lake is low and I can spot fish from the hills above the lake. The lake is around a 100 acres but its long and deep for my standards. Consequently I have decided I need a fish finder to mount on my canoe. I was hoping some of you guys had some experience with different models. I would rather not mount anything on the canoe as we use it in the river and I'm afraid we'll damage the transducer. Also I've seen where some mount it inside but am afraid me or the kids will mess it up. Ive aeen several portable units including some in Cabelas but I don't know if they are ok. I was hoping some of you guys had some suggestions of portable units or ways to make my own. Also I am worried about drag from suction cups on the canoe, is that an issue?

 

[onpoint]

Humminbird Fishin Buddy. Battery operated, clamp on/off on gunwale, fairly cheap. I use it for work situations - so I don't treat it well. Takes the abuse.

 

[Camdu7]

Do you have one on a boat already? If you do just get an extra ducer and power cord. Mount the ducer on a 1x4 and c clamp it to the canoe. We do this for trips to the BWCA.

 

[VAspeedgoat]

Starting from scratch. I have thought about doing just what you said. I just didn't know if there was something better that was made for a canoe.

 

[406LIFE]

I've used the fishin buddy on a fly in trip to Canada. Worked fine for what it was. Still left me wanting a bigger, better unit with side scanning. If all you really need is depth, and the occasional blip, i'd say this would work for you.

 

[Brendan]

So, can't help with direct experience, but if you do a search for "Kayak Fishing" and "Kayak Fishing Depth Finder" - I'm sure you'll find a bunch of hits. I know that a lot of ocean fisherman have rigged out kayaks with depth finders and get pretty crazy about it...

 

[Big Sky Dreamin]

I've got a Lowrance Elite 4 Chirp that I use for kayak and ice fishing. Works great, last long time (on the ice even). I have a soft/bendable metal rod mount that I picked up on eBay that I use to attach the open water transducer to a ram suction cup mount on the boat. Easy on easy off and not on the boat if you're not using it. I took it on a fly in trip to Canada as well and it was fantastic!